FEMINIST PERSPECTIVES ON BIOETHICAL ISSUES

From the perspective of feminist analysis, the concerns of bioethics should stand with the interests of women, femininity, their decisional autonomy and the right to have control over one's own body. The diversity of feminist theory and practice in the field of bioethics, is grounded in the idea that concepts of femininity and masculinity are socially constructed, having as a practical consequence the subordination of women. The western and masculine concept which stems from the hypothesis that the moral subject is autonomous, objective and rational, is put under the magnifying glass of a critique which brings up from under the pedestal of individualism and rationality based on ethical principles, the moral pressure of the group and social context, the specifics of some definite cases. Whether it is about the ethics of care or reproductive ethics technologies, the feminist contributions have brought to light some unidirectionally developed aspects in traditional ethics, thus opening new paths for research which could illustrate, through their complexity, the complexity of nature and human condition, in general, and of the nature and the female condition, especially.